Race day

Today, I ran my first half-marathon, the Great Eastern Run in Peterborough. 13.1 miles, to raise money for Amnesty International. Read on for my experience as a first-timer!

The day didn't start in a very promising manner. Getting to Peterborough from Cambridge on a Sunday morning is surprisingly difficult; coaches run slowly and infrequently, and to get there before 11am by train required changing at Stevenage - twenty miles in the wrong direction! Catching a train before 8:30am is never a great start to a day, but the real fun started at Stevenage: "The 9:20 train [...] has been delayed by over-running engineering works...". A small group of increasingly anxious runners stood in light drizzle, waiting for our train, for almost an hour. Network Rail's usual fine standard of service.

As a consequence, we arrived in a rather sunnier Peterborough just a few minutes before the start. After a dash from the station which also had to double as a warm-up, I reached the start literally as the race got underway. Runners were organised by target finishing time, but as I arrived as the crowd was starting to roll I was right at the back. This turned out to be a sure-fire way to prevent me going off too fast; the first mile was spent zig-zagging through the crowd, dodging through gaps when they appeared. At a couple of points I even ended up walking, when everyone was bunched up and there was literally no space to run into.

After another mile or so the race had opened up a bit more, and I built up to a normal pace. The weather was good for running - cool and mostly dry - and there were plenty of people out in the sidelines cheering, giving a great atmosphere to the race. The mile markers started passing surprisingly quickly - four miles, five miles, six miles, the half-way marker. It wasn't until the seven-mile marker that the pains started sparking up. As usual, the left leg was the problem: the ankle started giving a bit of a twinge if I struck a bit too flat. By the eight-mile mark, the hips were complaining, and a blister was starting on one foot - oddly, as I'd never had a problem with it during training. Still a fair way to go, keep pushing.

By this point, the race was pretty open. I was still passing quite a few people, but now in slow-motion. A few people came past me - some whom must have been late to the start, as they were clearly running sub-1:30 times, and a pair who were doing a curious sprint-drift pattern. They'd come past in a hurry, at speed - and then a few minutes later I'd overhaul them again running at a steady pace. This happened three or four times, until at about 11 miles they fell back. By now, my legs were starting to really tire, but I was far from out of breath. In fact, with 2 miles to go I decided that I could afford to pick up the pace further, and started passing a lot of people who'd done the opposite and gone off fast. There was a bit of an unsettling moment passing an apparently unconscious girl with paramedics around her - hard to tell what had happened. Past the twelve mile mark. Keep pushing!

The last mile was the fastest, as I knew I no longer needed to keep anything in reserve. Coming along the last section by the park, I felt great - running properly fast, sore legs didn't matter. Coming into the home straight, I even managed a sprint finish, burning everything I had left in the tank. I crossed the finish line at what I think was 1 hour 49'04. When I stopped I found my legs had decided they'd done enough for now - they'd gone slightly jellylike, and I had to find a railing to lean against for a minute to pull myself together before going to pick up my finisher's medal and goody bag.

All in all, I was pretty happy with the time (I'd previously decided that anything under 2 hours would be fine). I could probably have done faster if the first couple of miles had been more according to plan, and if I ran it again I would have a better feel for the right pace to set, but ultimately by the end I'd pushed myself about as hard as I could - and this is one of the reasons I enjoy running. There are few things you can do that are so simple, but in doing them you can push yourself right to the edge of the envelope. In summary, a very good experience, and a fair amount raised for my favourite charity - loads of thanks to everyone who's already donated, and for those who haven't, you're not too late!